Dr. Abdullah Al-Kamali has worked as Special Programs Manager for QNRF for the past four and a half years, dealing with the K-12 (Kindergarten - grade 12) education program and Secondary School Research Experience Program (SSREP). He graduated with a BA in Education from Qatar University in 1994 and has spent 20 years working in the field of education

Dr Abdul Sattar Al-Taie, Executive Director of QNRF and Chair of the NPRP-EP Committee, recently presided over the latest batch of submissions and here he throws light on the application procedure, which differs somewhat form the standard online submission procedure associated with the NPRP.

In June QNRF hosted the third in the series of quarterly Qatar Foundation Research & Development (QF R&D) Research Outcome Seminars (ROS), this time highlighting four innovative research projects in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Held in-house, at QNRF’s offices, the public seminars offer a window into the world of research as investigators are encouraged to present the output of their work in clear, layman’s language that the man-in-the street should be able to understand.

QNRF recently endorsed a declaration of principles and actions entitled ‘Statement of Principles and Actions for shaping the Future: Supporting the Next Generation of Researchers’, this action plan - formulated by the Global Research Council - sets guidelines and goals that hopefully will continue to promote socially responsible research amongst the research community.

Middle-school students (aged 11 to 15) from 10 schools in Qatar recently competed in a unique science event called the Science Challenge. Organised by QNRF and the Supreme Education Council (SEC), and held at the Hamad bin Khalifa University Student Centre, the students were challenged to construct a bridge using the scientific principles they had learned in the classroom.

Dr Paolo Gasparini, a medical geneticist and Head of Medical Genetics Department, University of Trieste, Italy, working with a group of Italian researchers, all of whom have long standing experience on the genetics of hearing loss, recently made headway in genetics research thanks to QNRF funding. In collaboration with a team of investigators from Hamad Medical Center, Qatar (HMC), the research team identified the mutated gene associated with hearing loss. They also found mutations of that gene and of other genes, all related to characters and disorders typical of the Qatari population. The breakthrough has significant relevance not only for patients in Qatar, but also for patients worldwide because this gene has never before been associated with the disease.

Diabetes is a disease that has reached pandemic proportions in the GCC region, and Qatar is no exception. Almost one in five of Qatar’s population suffers from diabetes, with this figure expected to more than double over the next two decades. A Qatar-based team is studying ways to predict the course of type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease accounting for more than 85 percent of cases worldwide. Their goal is to develop improved intervention mechanisms to avoid complications that routinely arise among diabetes sufferers.

Cyanobacteria are one of the largest and most important groups of bacteria on earth. Referred to as ‘the plants of the bacterial world’ – with the oldest known fossils being at least 3.5 billion years old – they are the only bacteria that can perform photosynthesis like plants. They also contribute to maintaining the health of the environment, and produce compounds that can treat diseases such as cancer. However, despite all these benefits, cyanobacteria are also known to produce poisonous toxins. They represent a global health risk, and more specifically (due to their proliferation in desert environments), a significant risk to residents in Qatar.

Mr. Gray Handley is currently the NIAID Associate Director for International Research Affairs and coordinates and facilitates international research activities for the US National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, ensuring that the institute has a well-integrated, scientifically-productive programme of international research cooperation. Here he talks about a new funding collaboration between NIAID and QNRF.

Remote laboratories are used to conduct real (instead of virtual) experiments at a physical location while a person at a different geographical location operates the technology to control these experiments. Professor Hamid Parsaei from Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) and colleagues from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University are at the forefront of this technological advancement in Qatar, with a project that aims to develop Advanced Remote Laboratory Technology.

No one can deny that QNRF is passionate about research and its relation to innovation as it sits at the core of QNRF’s most sought impact. However innovation requires out-of-the-box thinking – and, naturally, this leads to out-of-the-box doing.

QNRF’s integrated approach to the organizational funding structure, from support at the research site itself, right through to QF R&D’s IP protection and patenting system, proof-of-concept and ultimately, commercialization via Qatar Science and Technology Park’s (QSTP) all draw on innovative thinking, allowing you to move towards the knowledge-based economy with confidence. This is why I’d like to take this opportunity to offer a broader perspective of the development paths as offered by QF R&D, which can guide your innovative ideas to the next step, offering you the support necessary to get your idea to market. After all, innovation is not worth much if we cannot capture the value that has been painstakingly created by our researchers.

QNRF recently hosted the Global Research Council (GRC) Regional Meeting (RM) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region The GRC is an informal organization among public funding agencies worldwide. In a global research environment, researchers already cooperate and it is imperative that funding agencies work together to enable these collaborations, something that is encouraged by the GRC. QNRF spoke to Dr Graham Harrison, representing the National Science Foundation for the GRC during his recent visit to Doha.

Welcome to this fifteenth issue of the QNRF Newsletter. It’s been an exciting past few months the highlight of which was the 6th QNRF Annual Forum, where we announced the results of the seventh cycle of our flagship National Priorities Research Program. QNRF received 798 proposals in the seventh cycle of the NPRP, an 18 percent increase in the number of applications, compared with the previous cycle. This most recent cycle also saw the number of applications from Qatari lead principal investigators double.

On Wednesday, October 2nd, QNRF, in collaboration with Qatar’s Supreme Education Council (SEC) announced the winners of the latest cycle of its Secondary School Research Experience Program (SSREP). Eighty-one students, including 39 Qataris, were awarded prizes of up to QR 5,000 each for 48 research projects on a wide variety of topics, during a ceremony held at Education City’s Awsaj Academy. SSREP, a collaboration between QNRF and the SEC, is aimed at spreading a culture of research in the early stages of a young student’s education and is specifically designed to provide secondary school students with research experience.